‘Time for action’: Al Jazeera demands protection for journalists in Gaza 

Al Jazeera has demanded protection for journalists reporting on Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip and condemned the “systematic targeting” of journalists in the Palestinian territory and the region.

In a statement on Thursday, Al Jazeera Media Network said journalists in Gaza have received “grievous threats” as they continue to report on the ongoing Israeli assault and the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza’s north.

Since Israel launched its ongoing assault on Gaza in October 2023, Israeli forces have “methodically targeted and killed more than 170 journalists”, it said, including Al Jazeera journalists.

“These systematic attacks extend beyond individual tragedies; they constitute a calculated campaign to silence those who dare to document the realities of war and devastation and a direct assault on the fundamental right to information,” the network said.

Additionally, Israeli forces have bombarded Al Jazeera’s offices in Gaza, and raided and shut down its offices in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah and Jerusalem following the decision by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet in May 2024 to shut the network’s operations within Israel.

Earlier this month, the network rejected a claim by the Israeli military that six of its journalists based in Gaza are members of the Palestinian groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

It vehemently condemned the “unfounded allegations” and said its correspondents have been reporting from northern Gaza and documenting the dire humanitarian situation unfolding “as the sole international media” outlet there.

Israel has severely restricted access to Gaza for international media outlets since it launched its assault. At least 43,204 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 2023, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Northern Gaza has been under siege for more than two weeks as Israeli forces continue a renewed ground offensive in the area. Israel has continued to block the entry of aid and food from reaching some 400,000 people trapped there.

“The accusations of terrorism against Al Jazeera journalists are both deplorable and unconscionable.

“The Network’s sole mission has been its unyielding commitment to unveiling the harrowing impact of this war on innocent lives. The brutal assassination and targeting of journalists underscore the urgent necessity for immediate legal action against the Israeli Occupation Forces for their heinous crimes,” the network said, adding that the precedent being set in Gaza “threatens the very foundation of press freedom worldwide”.

Israeli forces have killed at least three Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza since October last year.

In July, Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Rifi were killed in an Israeli air attack on the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City.

In December, Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Samer Abudaqa was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis. Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, Wael Dahdouh, was also wounded in that attack.

Dahdouh’s wife, son, daughter and grandson had been killed in an Israeli air raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp in October last year.

In January, Dahdouh’s son, Hamza, who was also an Al Jazeera journalist, was killed in an Israeli missile strike in Khan Younis.

Earlier this month, Al Jazeera cameraman Fadi al-Wahidi fell into a coma after being shot by an Israeli sniper in Gaza. Despite appeals from three media freedom organisations, the Israeli authorities have not allowed al-Wahidi and fellow Al Jazeera cameraman Ali al-Attar, also wounded by Israeli forces, to leave Gaza for “lifesaving medical treatment”.

Veteran Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead by Israeli forces as she covered an Israeli raid in Jenin in the West Bank in May 2022.

“Al Jazeera remains unwavering in its commitment to pursue all available legal avenues to prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes,” the network said in its statement on Thursday.

According to the CPJ, at least 134 journalists and media workers have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since the war began.

The watchdog said last year that Israel’s war on Gaza is the deadliest in modern history for journalists.

“The time for action is now,” Al Jazeera said. “The international community must act decisively to protect journalists and ensure that such crimes do not remain unpunished.”